Review: BlackBerry Torch 9850
The BlackBerry Torch 9850 is a really solid smartphone. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it fills a glaring gap in RIM's device lineup. (It's a wholly different animal from the Storm/Storm 2 and much better than both of RIM's previous touch phones.)
The 9850 is well-made, looks attractive, and all the aspects of the hardware function as they are meant to. Signal performance was a bit iffy, and that led to mixed results concerning call quality. Data speeds, however, were reasonably good. Battery life was decent for a touch phone, though some BlackBerry faithful may be shocked at the less-than-three-weeks of time between charges.
The messaging components are all locked into place and are as robust as any other BlackBerry; email, SMS, IM, Twitter, Facebook are all ably conquered. The media prowess of the 9850 is an improvement over other BB7 devices thanks to the larger screen and improved camera.
The only real niggle I have with the 9850 is the crummy software keyboard. I found it to be unusable, and that could be a deal-breaker for those who have an addiction to messaging.
In the end, however, there's little to complain about. RIM has done a good job at bringing BlackBerry 7 to life in a classy and capable smartphone. I can easily see the Torch warming the hearts of BlackBerry fans.
Our Ratings
Video Tour: BlackBerry Torch 9850
BlackBerry Torch 9850
